Our church as a community effort could help an “adult assisted living/retirement home,” but we found out the Presbyterian Church is behind this effort. Can we visit/help out this home in any biblical way and be correct? I know we are not to “help out or support” in any way other religions. I guess the question ends up being, “Are we helping out their cause?” I am sure that many of these people are really not members of “this church,” BUT would we be helping out “their cause” in the end? Thank you and respond as soon as possible.
These days, we often find Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist hospitals, especially in metropolitan areas. These clearly wear the monikers of denominational churches. At the same time, they typically receive public funds as well as charge for their services. These benevolent institutions exist generally because of the effect of Christianity on society and specifically perhaps because of the initiative of some aspect of benevolence promoted by various denominational churches. Yet, such hospitals may be the only hospital services available in some communities, and irrespective of that, usually people do not suppose that receiving treatment from them or even being employed by them is recognized as an endorsement of denominational religious tenets.
Additional benevolent institutions may or may not be identified by their names as associated with religious denominations (e.g., personal care homes, nursing homes, hospice houses). Their existence, too, must be attributed generally with the positive effect of Christianity on society, and some of them, but not all of them, may be affiliated with denominational churches. Usually, they do not limit their services to a clientele with a specific religious alliance. They, too, may receive public money as well as charge for their amenities. It is not likely that people suppose that receiving treatment from them or even being employed by them is recognized as an endorsement of denominational religious tenets.
Many of these benevolent institutions will have as their patients or residents members of the churches of Christ besides others of various religious convictions or of no religious beliefs at all. Whether or not the Lord’s church attempts to interact with non-members, certainly our interaction with fellow Christians ought not to be inhibited by the treatment facility in which we find them and to which they have resorted for medical reasons (Matthew 25:43).
Using one’s best judgment, or the seasoned discernment of congregational leaders, a decision will have to be made in keeping with the conscience as to whether interaction in some facility, named or unnamed as being affiliated with a religious group, is an opportunity for benevolence, edification or evangelism, or would it constitute an implicit endorsement of religious error.
For me, there is a difference between participation in a decidedly religious denominational event, campaign or program (e.g., worship service, crusade, ministerial alliance, etc.; Ephesians 5:11) versus a minimally religious or denominationally unaffiliated benevolent institution. Some matters that we encounter today are not specifically addressed in Scripture, and still, in some areas that may be neither right nor wrong, each child of God must act in accordance with his or her conscience (Romans 14:23).
